


Michael in the Middle

by Saffronra



Category: Casson Family - Hilary McKay
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 10:16:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5453033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saffronra/pseuds/Saffronra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas is a time for family, however you define it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Michael in the Middle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheWrongKindOfPC](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWrongKindOfPC/gifts).



> I'm so pleased that we matched on this fandom. From your DYW letter, it's clear that we both love so many of the same elements from the books. I hope you enjoy this story!

That first Casson Christmas with Buttercup, Michael just couldn’t get over the noise and chaos of the clan at full strength. It felt like they’d physically grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him into the family without hesitation or recriminations. Any ‘normal’ family would have had sharp words to say about disappearing on Caddy and missing out on the birth of his son, but the Cassons just went “well here is Caddy! and here is Buttercup! and here is Michael!” and made space under the tree for them. Michael still kept at least one other person between him and Bill though. Just in case.

It was such a contrast to his own family. Whereas Caddy’s family got by on unconditional love and fierce loyalty amidst instability and precarious finances, Michael grew up in a well-ordered household where duty and moral obligation was the glue holding it all together. While he had no doubt that his family loved him, it was in a reserved way and from afar. They’d moved to Spain quite a long time ago, not long after he left college when his dad retired. His Mum wanted to be near her increasingly frail parents and Dad thought the climate would do more for his joints than the penetrating damp of England. Michael didn’t even know where to start on telling them about Buttercup. They’d never even met Caddy! He’d suggested it when they were deciding where to go after Italy, but Caddy had responded with such a panicked look and started protesting that she very much was not the kind of girl that got on with parents, that he let it drop thinking they’d have time to work it out.

Their time together in Europe had been relatively short, in hindsight, but at the time it felt elastic and taut, stretching out endlessly until the weight of the unspoken caused it to snap.

If you asked Michael about Portugal, he’d say that all couples have their rough spots and that he and Caddy found each other in the end, before changing the subject. If you asked Luke, he’d tell you how he always knew that Michael would end up with his heart being broken by Caddy again. He’d say that Michael was utterly bewildered at why she’d travel halfway across Europe to track him down and have the big dramatic “I love you!” reunion, only to never quite make that full commitment. Not wanting to slip off to that little chapel and get quietly married as it wouldn’t be right without her family, but not wanting to tell her family about the reunion either, and especially not wanting to go back home where she’d have to “face the music” as she put it grimly.

When the big fight happened, Michael knew all Caddy’s soft spots and went for them ruthlessly. All she wanted was an escape and he was a convenient way of achieving that. She didn’t want a serious relationship, she wanted someone who would look after her so she didn’t have to be on her own. Constantly going from boyfriend to boyfriend so she wouldn’t have to face whatever it was she was running from, ending up like her mother - trapped in a half relationship with all the work and none of the satisfaction - so she was always going to the other extreme. Well Michael had enough. He wasn’t going to be that person any more and Caddy needed to learn to be by herself, stop being so self-centred and take some responsibility.

Well, she certainly showed him she could do that. 

After Rose told him that Caddy was back and he’d realised what - who! - Buttercup must be, he went straight to the zoo. It was already closed for the day, but Michael couldn’t wait any longer. He shook the gates and shouted that they’d have to call the police if they weren’t going to let him in to see Caddy. She finally came to the gates, looking exhausted but hopeful, and led him into the zoo to her little flat above the cafe and then to a tiny bedroom where he saw his son for the first time, peacefully sleeping while Caddy explained that they couldn’t argue if it was going to wake him up.

Caddy made them both a cup of tea and they talked and cried for hours. Michael strongly suspected she was downplaying what she went through in order to make him feel less guilty, even so he pictured her alone in Greece with a positive over-the-counter pregnancy test, overwhelmed with the weight of the decisions she had to make and feeling like she couldn’t speak to either the father of her child or her beloved family about it.

But Caddy, being Caddy, had muddled her way through. Never doing things the expected way, but taking the scenic route instead. Why would motherhood be any different? Her old manager at the zoo got in touch at just the right time with news about dear old Peter, the out of hours manager, who was retiring and did Caddy know of anyone who might be interested in the job (and the flat it came with). Elaine in the ticket office brought in a load of baby clothes that her grandson had grown out of, Ollie the Penguin Keeper knew someone with an old cot from their loft, Susan had a baby carrier that Caddy could use to strap Tootles to her chest while she did her evening check on the animals.

Part of what was making telling his parents about Buttercup so difficult for Michael was the explanation of why he didn’t tell them sooner, which led to why he didn’t know and then they’d think awful things about Caddy which he just wanted to protect her from. They’d both said some pretty horrible things in Portugal, and Michael wasn’t at all surprised that Caddy had determinedly not got in touch with him once she’d found out.

But as he saw the lengths that the Cassons were going to to make David and Tom and him feel included in the festivities, and the overwhelming amount of attention being showered on Buttercup (Michael was in real danger of forgetting his son had a real name if they didn’t stop calling him that), who was taking it all in his stride (“just like Indigo”, Caddy was saying proudly), it made Michael realise that ultimately he couldn’t control his parent’s reaction to the news. He’d call them tomorrow. His family now was wider and more colourful than he’d ever dared to dream since the first time he’d pulled up outside the house and met Caddy.


End file.
